Oral surgery for the general dentist

  • L. I. Gaum
USA: Lexi-Comp price $54.95; pp 170 ISBN 1591951690 | ISBN: 1-591-95169-0

This is a well laid out manual with a thorough introduction followed by chapters on the various routine surgical procedures and aspects of patient care. The book concludes with helpful hints.

Oral surgery cannot be taught with words alone, and hence any oral surgery book of consequence should rely heavily on illustrations and photos. By its nature, photographs of surgical procedures are difficult to follow due to orientation and a field covered with blood. This book tackles this difficulty by having excellent clinical photos almost always beside a photo of a prosthetic oral cavity displaying the procedure (without excess blood). The scope of the book is ideal for the general practitioner as routine surgical procedures are described in detail (such as surgical removal of roots) allowing the practitioner to broaden their skill base. However, the book is not suitable as a lone oral surgery book for the undergraduate as much of the very fundamental aspects of oral surgery technique are omitted, such as how to use elevators and why.

Oral surgery should always be a planned procedure; however procedures do not always go to plan. Being able to deal effectively with complications will greatly reduce stress, and the book highlights many tips to reduce time and frustration. Examples include the ART (Anterior Ramus Technique — the author is the principal developer) procedure for inferior dental blocks (although the author says he still uses two cartridges doing the ART procedure so I am unsure as to whether this is a better system, but again having a choice of methods is very useful) and the use of curved forceps to extract lower roots with their initial placement on the mucosa thus facilitating a luxating movement, and finally a crane pick (a cryers type instrument which is inserted into a hole in the tooth drilled by the dentist).

Management of oral surgery patients should include effective post-operative management, and this is well covered with helpful hints such as patients are given monojet syinges and shown how to wash out third molar sockets.

Negatives; well as the author is Canadian there is the expected different naming of common instruments (a couplands being referred to as a gouge), and I feel an up-to-date manual should have a section on implants — or at least stress the importance of bone preservation when performing extractions and show how this can be done.

Overall this is a well laid out manual with clear photos and illustrations; however it may leave you wanting a crane pick!